Alibi (Brantley Walker Off the Books #5) - Nicole Edwards Page 0,2
little more with the loft, but yeah.”
“Even with all this, you’ve got some extra room for growth.”
“We do.”
“I’m curious about this,” Hunter said, motioning toward the row of whiteboards mounted on the wall.
“Those are our evidence boards. We start one with each case. It allows us to see the visual breakdown of what we know and how it all relates.”
“Is that what this one is?” Hunter motioned toward the board at the end, which had various images taped to it as well as writing that connected a few dots.
“Yeah. We’ve been lookin’ into a social media scam, tryin’ to figure out who’s behind it.”
“I’ve heard about that,” RT said, stepping closer to the board. “They infiltrate the virtual community groups on Facebook and whatnot. Pretend to be a member, get to know the others.”
“Yep,” Brantley confirmed. “And in at least one instance that we know of, they’ve attempted to kidnap a kid.”
“Seriously?” Hunter’s voice had deepened. “That’s bullshit.”
“Yeah, well, unfortunately, that’s humanity for you.”
“You plan to continue lookin’ into it?”
Brantley met RT’s gaze. “Was hopin’ to.”
“I think you should.” RT glanced at Hunter. “You know what’d work great for them?”
Hunter nodded. “It definitely would.”
Lost, Brantley stared at the pair, wondered if they were going to share with the class.
“Oh, sorry.” RT smiled, looked back at the wall, and motioned with his hands. “We’ve been workin’ on a display screen that would allow us to do somethin’ similar. Ours is a bit more complex bein’ that we’re trackin’ multiple clients at a time. It’s digital and live, meaning it changes all the time as our agents update details. But it would work brilliantly for this, too.”
“Display screen?” Reese asked.
“It’s touch screen, like a tablet, only on a grander scale. You’d only need one because you could archive each case in a folder, open them as you need it. We’ve got software that would allow you to write notes, pin things in whatever order, show the images just like you would see them on an evidence board.”
“JJ would go apeshit,” Brantley said with a laugh.
“You said you’ve got a team of six now?” Hunter asked, perching on the corner of an empty desk as he sipped his coffee.
“Seven,” Brantley corrected. “I’ve recently hired JJ an assistant.”
“Potentially eight,” Reese corrected. “He’s made an offer to another … comm specialist, but he hasn’t accepted the position yet.”
“How many more are you lookin’ to bring on?” RT strolled back toward them.
Brantley glanced at Reese, nodded for him to answer.
“That depends on how we structure it,” Reese told RT. “As it is, we’re a bit lean for a full investigative team in this area. Since our cases require us to move quickly in the sense that we’re lookin’ for someone who could potentially be in a life-or-death situation, we need to cover ground quickly. But at the same time, we need to maintain coverage on our workload.”
“The cold cases?”
“Exactly.”
“Will you continue those?” RT asked, glancing between them.
“I’d like to lend a hand to neighboring departments if we’ve got the ability to do so.”
“So how many are you thinkin’ and how much ground are you coverin’?” RT lowered himself into one of the chairs, propped an ankle on a knee, and sipped his coffee.
“I’d say a full team would be roughly ten, maybe twelve. That includes the electronics experts and support personnel.”
“Ten or twelve per region?” RT clarified.
Reese looked at Brantley, then back to RT as though confused by the question. “Yeah, I guess. Are you lookin’ to create more teams?”
Brantley hadn’t discussed this with anyone, including RT. It had been mentioned, but only once. Something about creating these teams in a few major cities across the US.
“Eventually,” Brantley noted.
“From experience,” RT continued, “I can tell you it’d be wise to keep your electronics and support teams in one place and send field agents where they’re most needed as you grow. Less on overhead that way.”
“We’re willin’ to do whatever you need us to do,” Brantley told RT. “Our only objective is to remain useful to those who need our services.”
RT looked at Hunter, the men clearly having a silent conversation. When Hunter nodded, RT turned a wide grin on him and Reese.
“I’m not gonna pretend we have to get into the minutia to move forward. From the minute you showed interest, we were on board.” He chuckled. “In fact, it took me all of three minutes to present it to the board and get one-hundred-percent buy-in.”